


Anna and the Gardener

by thankyouturtle



Series: Two Steps Forward [3]
Category: Chalet School - Brent-Dyer
Genre: F/M, Flashbacks, Future Fic, Post-Canon, Romance, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-17
Updated: 2009-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-03 05:06:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thankyouturtle/pseuds/thankyouturtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna has never met a man who understands what the Maynards mean to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anna and the Gardener

When Paul offered to take out Anna to see the sights, she was doubtful. Paul was handsome for a man his age - very handsome, in fact - and he was charming and cheerful and she didn't see why, for a single moment, he would be interested in taking her out with him.

"I will have to ask Frau Maynard," she told him. "There is still much unpacking to do, and she will almost certainly wish for me to stay and help her." But Frau Maynard, who she discovered staring out the dining room window with a look on her face that was all-too familiar to Anna, wanted nothing of the kind.

"Oh yes, Anna, you should go - it would be ridiculous for you to come out to Canada and spend your whole time stuck inside the house. The unpacking? We can finish it this evening. Yes, I can make lunch for once - if I can't make a decent sandwich by this time I'll never get there!" Anna retreated back to her kitchen where Paul was waiting for her, inwardly cursing generous mistresses who were too preoccupied with the next novel they were writing to demand that their servants spend all day working. That was the only excuse she had been able to think of, though, so she had to tell Paul that yes, she was available to go, in his words, 'see the sights'.

The city had changed since her last visit - although perhaps that was not so surprising considering how long ago it was that she had been here. When she mentioned it to Paul he became interested. "Have you traveled a lot, then?" he asked. "I've always wanted to, but - well, circumstances have never allowed it."

"Doktor Maynard goes wherever he is needed for work," Anna explained. "And Frau Maynard naturally wants to be with him."

"You're lucky that they take you too" Paul said enviously. "I mean - I'm sure you love Switzerland, but to get to see the rest of the world..."

Anna laughed. "I do not like Switzerland so very much! I was born in Austria, and that is my home. But after the Anschluss I went to England; and after the war I had no wish to leave the Maynards." Paul looked interested, but Anna firmly changed the subject by pointing out a building which was new to her and asking its purpose. Later, when she was safely back in her kitchen, she found to her disgust that his interest had made her warm to him considerably. "Such nonsense!" she murmured out loud as she firmly kneaded bread dough, and she resolved to avoid him as much as possible.

Unfortunately, Paul was determined not to be avoided. Doktor Maynard had only engaged him to see to the gardens twice a week, yet he somehow found excuses to be there every day - asking Frau Maynard's advice about which colour flowers to plant, or offering to take Felix and Felicity out slug-hunting in the evenings. And somehow, no matter how much she steeled herself to do it, she could not forbid him to enter her kitchen. He was too handsome, too charming, too interested, too nice, and gradually, as the days trickled by, Anna found herself opening up to him.

She told him about her flight from the Tirol, how even as her head was telling her it was the only thing to do if she wanted to escape the Nazi machine her heart was breaking. How her sister had found her the job with the Maynards, and she had fallen in love with the three beautiful triplet babies who were now as dear to her as her own nieces and nephews. She admitted she had never known that Frau Maynard had had a temper until the day their neighbour came to accuse Anna of being a spy; how Frau Maynard had drawn herself up, so proudly and stiffly that she had become almost a different person, and the neighbour had been sent scuttling and did not return. How, once he was gone, Frau Maynard started to cry, and Anna had suddenly known, as clear as if someone had told her, that the Tirol was as much as home to Frau Maynard as it was to her. She told Paul about that terrible, black period when Doktor Maynard had been thought dead, and Frau Maynard had told her how glad she was to have Anna's service, because it made her feel a little less helpless, a little less alone.

In return, Paul told her about his own life. He may have never left Canada, but he knew every inch of his own country, and entertained Anna with stories of a boyhood spent trekking wherever his father fancied. How, once he was old enough to make his own way in the world he had discovered that his knowledge of the many plants he had met during his travels made him an excellent gardener. "I wasn't sure about taking this job with the Maynards," he confided, "since it was only short-term. But I think I'm glad I did." Then he smiled at her in such a way that she had to hurriedly turn away and check the temperature of the oven.

She became used to having him in her kitchen. His cheerful conversation and earthy smell became as familiar to her as the sound Frau Maynard's ringing laughter, and she found herself always looking forward to his company. So perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised when, two weeks before she and the Maynards were due to return to Switzerland, he proposed to her.

"What?" was all she managed to say in reply.

"Will you marry me?" Paul repeated steadily. "Ich will Sie mich heiraten," he added helpfully.

For a moment, Anna was flattered; then, she felt her normally placid temper rise as she realised just what he wanted. "How could you?" she demanded, her voice low but dangerous. "How could you want to take me away from Frau Maynard, after everything I have told you?" Paul opened his mouth to reply, but she continued. "You men! You are all the same; you want things to be your own way, and will not let me have things the way that I like them! How could I marry a man like you?"

"Anna," Paul said quietly. "I don't want to take you away at all. I want just the opposite. I've seen for myself how kind Dr and Mrs Maynard are - and I want you to be happy. I don't think you would be happy to stay here in Canada, and if you were miserable I would be, too."

"You mean - you wish to come to Switzerland?" Anna asked, and her stomach suddenly tightened. Paul was not the first man to ask her to marry him, not at all. But none of the others had ever understood the intense loyalty and love she had for the Maynards; they had all wanted her to leave them, to become a wife and mother and not to think any more about the family she cared for so much. Could it be that Paul did understand the way she felt - and that he wanted to marry her anyway?

"I told Dr Maynard that I had always wanted to travel, and he said he knew of a job going that might interest me. Not far from where he lives, he said, there is a school who is building its own greenhouses and is looking for someone to take over the role of Head Gardener when they are finished. He told me that, if I wished, he was in a position to offer me the post." Paul stopped, and sighed. "But there is no point in me accepting it if you don't want me to."

For a moment Anna's head swam, and her throat went dry. She was vaguely aware of Paul turning away, taking her silence as a 'no', and cried out, "Paul - wait! Please..." Her head cleared and she could see him, standing in the doorway and looking at her with hope in his eyes.

"Paul..." She paused, trying to think of the right words. "Paul, I will have to teach you how to speak my language properly," she finally said; and then Paul was holding her hand, and she could not stop smiling.


End file.
